Should we let kids cheat in school?

I know that the knee-jerk reaction is that we shouldn't.

But, if school is to prepare them for real life, then they shouldn't be doing their own work.

It's thieves, liars, and cheaters that get ahead in real life. In the real world, it's okay to push people around and bully them into doing what you want. In this world, you've got to be immoral and sometimes downright illegal to get ahead 99 times out of 100.

We all know how the adult world runs. So my question is, why not let them cheat?

Watch Pirates of Silicon Valley.

It supports your point entirely.

I don't think we should, it really is true that you cheat yourself when you cheat.

Yes, So true. This is how it works in real life. Do what ever you want to win BUT Don't get caught.

This argument is quite similar o the bullying one. The real world is run by mostly bullies and a lot of those that succeed are indeed bullies/outright criminals.

Look at someone like Donald Trump who said in his own book that " The best thing about being rich and powerful is that you can get rid of anyone that you don't like." Gangstalker/Hired killer ALERT. You may think that I am exaggerating but i bet that I am not far off the truth here.

Except in the real world It's still not righto bully people around and cheat.and I don't think we should be encouraging that.Why feed the breed with a fresh farm crop of cheaters?

I clicked on the thread to chew this thread out, but having read it, I now sorta agree. After all, it IS true that those who cheat and back-stab and screw others over in this world are the VICTORS who get rewarded with the 'dream life' that everyone could only 'dream about.

AND, of-course, the rest are labeled by the sleaze-bags of the world as "LAZY" and at fault for not making it via the unethical, and indecent slime-ball way.

Good is bad, and cheating, back-stabbing, and screwing others equals winning.

Guess some of us are "LAZY" and at "fault" while working 60 hours a week as a decent and hard-working and honest person to ever get there...

SIMPLE EQUATION OF THE AVERAGE MODERN-DAY AMERICAN: Military service + Bachelors degree + 60 hours a week + being a DECENT HUMAN BEING = losing out against a back-stabbing, cheating, screwing SNAKE in this world.

Oh well I guess. Oh well for us decent folks.

If this is how the real world works, then all of you should be out protesting wallstreet and the the Federal reserve.

I have got a couple kids in school right now, and I am starting to wonder myself. The entire point of them going to school seems to be to take stupid tests so the school gets good grades and gets their funding bonuses.
It's ridiculous.

My 12 year old has always had some trouble reading, so now in 7th grade, he has a teacher that tells him, "Just read three 3rd grade level books, it's the same points as one 7th grade book."

Say WHAT? I challenged her on it, and she said most everything in the world is written at a 3rd or 4th grade level now, so anything above is extra. I told her she was setting the kids up to work at McDonald's their entire lives with that attitude, how are we supposed to create new scientists, engineers and doctors without learning higher reading skills?!

"We just aren't set up for that." I wanted to slap that idiot SO bad. But I didn't, cause I don't want to be labelled a terrorist ;P

They still need to be smart enough to know when someone is trying to cheat them.
Therefore, they shouldn't cheat through school, they're going to need their wits about them.
It's a cruel world out there.

The cheaters are smart because they have found a way to beat the system, but are they the true hardworking Americans who deserve the money, power, wealth? No. The ones that haven't cheated are the hard working Americans who are the back support of this country and deserve soooo much more than any of the cheaters. I beleive we need to change the schooling system in fact to a more focused individualism with children. Other than handing over a test with a A+ already written in red on top.

Who do you know with power or money that has cheated his way to the top?

By and large if a child can cheat and get away with it, it usually suggests an elevated level of intelligence that will be either a good or a bad thing depending on the child, and more often than not, they dont even really need to cheat, its just what there learning is mind numbing, and it adds somewhat of a new dimension to the subject.

reply to post by TheOneElectric


I don't want to be put in Guantanamo Bay as a terrorist, to put it bluntly. Or be charged with assault because I curl up in a ball when the police are beating me with a billy club.

The question doesn't make sense.

If something which is now cheating, is later allowed, it is no longer against the rules, therefor it technically isn't cheating at that point.

Cheating by definition, is breaking a rule or set of rules. Can't cheat on your wife if she allows you to sleep with other women, can you?

In general though, if a kid cheats and doesn't get caught, he showed an ability to succeed by thinking outside the box. While it might not fit with a curriculum, or how schools are set up, that might carry over into the real world later on. In my experience, people who think outside the box, and are good at it, were never really taught how to do it. They thought on their own, of a different, more efficient way to get the same result as others, and were clever enough not to get caught. So there is an element of both risk, and confidence to follow through in that personality type.

There are also however kids who cheat, and never succeed at anything later on.

reply to post by MysticPearl


It's really pretty simple: it's still against the rules, but the kids don't get punished for it if they break that rule.

reply to post by blamethegreys


I agree. I would have slapped him/her in a heartbeat .

Its all about teachers though. Now and days people are just worried about getting their money. Less worried about the kids understanding the material given.

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
reply to post by MysticPearl

 

It's really pretty simple: it's still against the rules, but the kids don't get punished for it if they break that rule.

What?

If something is allowed, by definition it isn't against the rules. What you said doesn't apply to most of my post anyway. Attempting to cheat your way through reading entire posts?

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this an intrinsic characteristic most of us find deplorable about the 1% who taunt the OWS protesters by sipping champagne from their lofty perches? Why on earth would we advocate our children engaging in behavior we find so deplorable and at what point does "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" completely negate the possibility of facilitating a more balanced economic society?

I understand what you're saying and it's definitely a double-edged sword, but I would personally rather advocate true moral values or we might as well kiss our hopes of a better future for ALL of our children goodbye.

As a parent, the concept of nurturing morals, values and ethics yet also teaching my sons about how the "adult world works" has been a real challenge. Sort of like learning how to keep both your heart and eyes open - quite a challenge in today's changing world and environment.

Having said that, I always viewed the role of parenting to include giving our kids the tools to create and live in a better world than the one we bring them into. This adult world of lies, cheating and every man for himself has gotten us to where we are. Preparing them only to survive in this cutthroat world may leave them woefully unprepared for the world as it may come to be.

Why We Should Not Let Children Cheat in School

What is a society or a community? It is nothing but a system of mutual agreements concerning the exchange of ideas, goods and services. It is through these agreements that society fulfils its purpose, which is the mutual protection and welfare of its members. The fairer the society, the more widely these benefits are shared.

A cheat is someone who exploits a social agreement so as to reap its benefits for himself while avoiding the obligations and responsibilities that go with them. In other words, someone who helps himself from the common stew-pot without contributing any ingredients himself.

Most societies can withstand a certain amount of this. The cheat prospers, but the rest of us do not suffer very greatly, because the pot is deep and our loss is a shared loss, whilst the cheat’s gain is all his own.

If too many people turn cheat, however, helping themselves from the pot without putting anything in, the pot is soon emptied and everybody starves – the cheats included. Sociologists have a name for this: they call it ‘the tragedy of the commons.’

The only way to avoid the tragedy of the commons, the destruction of society through cheating, is to ensure that most people do not cheat. It would be better, of course, if nobody cheated, but that is not a practicable achievement. So we do the next best thing, and reduce cheating to a manageable level. Thus society is preserved, but at a certain cost.

It is naturally disheartening and frustrating to watch a few rich cheats living like lords at our expense. But it is far, far worse to join them, because in doing so we hasten the destruction of society and lose even those social benefits left to us.

No, we should not let our children cheat in school. Indeed, we should come down harder on school cheats than we do now. Zero tolerance of cheating is impossible in society at large, but it can be achieved (or nearly achieved) in the microcosmic society of a school. And it is worth achieving it, because people are far more easily conditioned and socialized as children than as adults. The time to instil principles of fairness and justice is in childhood. The less we let children cheat in school (and coddle them with inflated grades and other corrupting influences), the more we reward honesty and fair dealing among our children, the stronger and fairer society as a whole will come to be.

The alternative is to just give them the answers and tell them that since they're never going to get anywhere anyway because The Man will hold them back, they need to learn how to accept handouts and not get by on their own merit.

That's just as valid an argument. Meaning it's just as stupid.

/TOA